Refrigerated display cabinet

ABSTRACT

A cooling arrangement for the condenser of a refrigerated display cabinet, in which there is an upper refrigerated display chamber and a lower nonrefrigerated chamber with the condenser being located in the lower chamber, the cooling arrangement involving drawing in the ambient air through the front of the cabinet well above the floor and after it is used to cool the condenser, discharging it into the toe space of the cabinet adjacent the floor. The cabinet has a sloping front panel spaced from the insulated front wall of the cabinet and the cooling air is drawn in adjacent the top of this front panel. A portion of the air, after passing over the condenser, is directed over the condensate drain passage in the rear of the cabinet.

United States Patent 1 1 Kenyon [111 v 3,759,059 1 Sept. 18, 1973 [73]Assignee: Schaefer Corporation, Minneapolis,

Minn.

22 Filed: Dec. 30, 1971 211 Appl. No.: 214,355

3,263,745 8/1966 Henry 62/455 Primary Examiner--William J. Wye

Attorney-Frederick E. Lange et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A cooling arrangement for the condenser of a refrigerateddisplay cabinet, in which there is an upper refrigerated display chamberand a lower nonrefrigerated chamber with the condenser being located inthe lower chamber, the cooling arrangement involving drawing in theambient air through the front of the cabinet well above the floor andafter it is used to cool the condenser, discharging it into the toespace of the cabinet adjacent the floor. The cabinet has a sloping frontpanel spaced from the insulated front wall of the cabinet and thecooling air is drawn in adjacent the top of this front panel. A portionof the air, after passing over the condenser, is directed over thecondensate drain passage in the rear of the cabinet.

8 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CABINET BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION It is common practice in the art of refrigerated displaycabinets to provide an upper refrigerated display chamber and a lowernonrefrigerated chamber, the condenser being located in the lowerchamber and the evaporator in heat exchange relation with the upperrefrigerated chamber. In order to cool the condenser, it is quite commonto provide some means for circulating air over the condenser. One commonmethod of doing this is to bring the air in through the front of thecabinet adjacent the bottom of the cabinet and after it has beencirculated over the condenser, it is discharged to the rear of thecabinet. This type of arrangement has several drawbacks. In the firstplace, the air is drawn in adjacent to the floor and a certain amount ofdust .is picked up. This dust tends to be deposited on the compressor,the condenser'and other elements within the lower chamber. Furthermore,it is often desirable to place these cabinets directly against a walland when this is done, there is a tendency for the outlet for the heatedair to be somewhat restricted. In other instances, the display cabinetmay be so placed that the back of the cabinet is facing a cashier orother employee. The continuous discharge of warm air through the back ofthe cabinet can result in considerable discomfort to such person exposedto the discharge. Again, if two of these cabinets are placed back toback, the discharge of the heated air is impeded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is concerned with arefrigerated display cabinet of the type just discussed in which the airfor cooling the condenser is drawn in through the front of the cabinetat a point substantially above the floor and, after being used to coolthe condenser, is discharged through the front of the cabinet adjacentthe floor. This arrangement has the advantage of insuring thatrelatively clean air is drawn into the cabinet. Furthermore, the airthat is discharged adjacent the bottom front portion of the cabinettends to blow away any dust immediately in front of the cabinet at thefloor level. It is quite common in such cabinets to have a recessedportion adjacent the floor to provide a toe space. This area is easilyoverlooked during cleaning and tends to accumulate dust. Theaccumulation of this dust is materailly reduced with my arrangement.

The air inlet for the condenser cooling air is provided by an auxiliaryfront wall which extends upwardly from the bottom-of the cabinet and isspaced from the front of the cabinet. The air inlet is adjacent the topof this auxiliary front wall. Preferably, a panel extends across andabove the space between the front wall and the top of the auxiliary walland a substantially vertical grill is disposed between the forwardportion of this panel and the upper edge of the auxiliary wall to coverthe air inlet. The inner wall is preferably an insulated wall forming awall of the upper refrigerated chamber and the outer auxiliary wall ispreferably a decorative wall which extends downwardly to substantiallythe bottom of the cabinet.

As is quite common with such cabinets, there is preferably a transparentheat insulating, wall disposed above the front insulated wall, whichtransparent wall forms a part of the enclosure of the upper refrigeratedchamber. The panel extending between the front wall and the outerauxiliary wall preferably extends forward from the bottom of thistransparent wall. A portion of the heated air which is passed over thecondenser may be diverted over a drain passage from 5 below theevaporator to make sure that no freezing of this drain passage occurs.Various other features and objects of the invention will be apparentfrom a consideration of the accompanying specification, claims anddrawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of myimproved refrigerated display cabinet with portions broken away to showthe condenser and compressor and the fan for circulating air over thecondenser and compressor; and

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view, somewhat schematic, showing thepath of the air relative to the condenser, the compressor and otherelements of the refrigerated cabinet.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, thecabinet comprises an 5 upper refrigerated compartment 11 and a lowernonrefrigerated compartment 12. The upper refrigerated compartment 11 issuitably secured within a cabinet shell 13 with its bottom insulatedwall 14 supported above the base of the cabinet by any suitable means(not shown). The upper cabinet has a front insulated wall 15 and a rearinsulated wall 16 terminating at its upper end in an overhanging upperwall 17 which extends forwardly sufficiently to cover an evaporator unit18 which is suitably supported in the upper chamber 11 in heat exchangerelationship with the upper chamber 11. Disposed beneath the evaporator18 is a drip pan 19 which communicates with a condensate chamber 20which, in turn, communicates with a condensate drain tube 21 extendingdownwardly and outwardly through the rear insulated wall 16 of the upperrefrigerated chamber. The lower end of the drain tube 21 dischargesdown-wardly and is preferably so disposed that the condensate will flowinto any suitable collection means (not shown).

The upper portion of the front insulated wall 15 of the refrigeratedchamber 1 l slants to the rear as shown at 22 and communicating withthis upper slanting portion 22 of wall 15 is a transparent front wall 23which may be formed of a plurality of panes of glass suitably spaced andsealed with respect to each other to provide air chambers therebetweenand thus reduce the heat loss therethrough. The transparent front wall23, as is apparent from FIG. 1, forms a continuation of the upperslanting portion 22 of front wall 15 and provides a means for assistingin viewing the contents of the cabinet. The shell 13 of the cabinet isprovided with an upperchamber 25 closed in the front by a panel 26 inwhich is located a translucentsign 27 illuminated by suitableilluminating means 28.

A center bar 29 extends between the upper chamber 25 and a bar 30 'isdisposed across the upper front of the cabinet. Disposed on each side ofthe center bar 29 are two slidable transparent covers 31 and 32. Thesecovers are slidably supported in the bar 29 and guides at the oppositeends of the cabinet. The details of these supports are of no importanceas far as the present invention is concerned.

Located in the lower nonrefrigerated compartment 12 are various elementsof the refrigeration system other than the evaporator 18. As is'usual,the refrigerationsystem comprises a compressor 31 which is shown as asealed unit. As is customary, gaseous refrigerant is compressed by thecompressor and is then passed through a condenser 32 in which thecompressed gaseous refrigerant is cooled and condensed to become aliquid. The condenser, as best shown in FIG. 1, comprises a pipe whichextends back and forth in a series of loops across the front of thecabinet. Air is drawn over this condenser by a blower 33 in the form ofa fan operated by a motor 34. The invention of the present applicationis concerned with the manner in which this air is introduced into thelower compartment 12 and is discharged therefrom.

Located at the front of the cabinet is a panel 36 constituting the outerfront wall of the cabinet. It will be noted that this panel 36 merges atits bottom with the front edge of the lower compartment 12 and divergesoutwardly as it extends upwardly, the upper portion being spaced fromthe front wall of the upper refrigerated compartment. The panel 36 hasside walls 37, one of which is shown in FIG. 1, which joins with themain cabinet 13 and encloses at its sides the passage formed betweenwall 36 and the insulated wall 15.

Disposed above the upper edge of the panel 36 is a hollow beam 38, shownin cross-section in FIG. 2. This beam includes a sloping upward wall 39which extends forwardly and downwardly from and adjacent the edge of theglass wall 23 to a point above the upper edge of the front panel 36. Thebeam also has a substantially vertical front wall 40 and a substantiallyhorizontal bottom wall 41. Disposed between the bottom of front wall 40of the beam 38 and the top of the front panel 36 is a screen 42, as bestshown in FIG. 1. This screen serves to cover the inlet for air to coolthe condenser, as will be presently described.

As indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 1 and .2, the blower 33 is effectiveto'draw air through the screen 42 and down through the passage formed bythe panel 36 and the front wall 15. The air flows across the condensercoil 32 and then across the compressor 31.

As is customary with such cabinets, there is a lower supporting base 44for t'he cabinet which does not project outwardly completely to thefront of the cabinet. The space between the front of the base member 44and the front of the cabinet is commonly referred to as the toe space inthat it provides space for the toes of the customer examining the goodsin the cabinet. The base 44 has an opening 45 in the front thereofcovered by a screen. It is to be understood that this opening may beeither in the form of a continuous opening covered by a screen, asshown, or in the form of a series of small openings spacedlongitudinally along the base. The base 44 has a hollow passage or ductcommunicating with the opening 45, there being a forward passage 46beneath a base member 47 which supports the condenser 32 and the blower33 and which forms the 'top wall of passage 46 to prevent air enteringthe lower compartment from passing immediately into the p'assage 46. Ata point behind the blower, there is a second base member 50 whichsupports the compressor 31. This is spaced above the bottom to formapassageor duct 49 communicating with passage 46 and acting as a rearextension thereof. Base member 50 is slightly lower than base member 17and its front edge is spaced from the rear edge of base member 47 toprovide a restricted opening 48 to permit air that has passed over thecondenser 32 to enter the passage 46. Some of the air, however, passesover the compressor 31 and enters the passage 49 extending beneath thecompressor. Thus, a portion of the heated air passing over condenser 32passes through opening 48 and out through the opening 45 in the frontwall of the base 44. Other of the air passes over the compressor 31entering the passage 49 and flows. through the passage 46 out throughthe opening 45. In addition, a further passage 51 is formed in the backwall 16 of the upper cabinet, this passageextending upwardly over thedrain tube 21 and terminating in an opening 52. Thus, a portion of theair passing over the condenser 32 and the compressor 31 passes upwardlythrough passage 51, over the end of drain tube 21 and out throughpassage 52. Since this air is heated to a substantial extent by thecondenser and compressor, it will be sufficiently warm to prevent thecondensate drain tube from freezing. With the exception of the airpassing through the rear passage 51, however, all of the air that isused for cooling the condenser and the compressor 31 passes out throughan opening 45 in front of the cabinet. This air has sufficient velocitythat any dust in the toe space tends to be blown away with the resultthat the toe space is kept relatively clean. Furthermore, the heat ofthe air passing out through this toe space is not particularlyobjectionable since the air issuing from this toe space tends to assumeapproximately room temperature before it has risen sufficiently tocontact the upper portions of the body of a customer or of an employeeservicing the cabinet. Furthermore, warm air contacting the feet andlower legs of a person tends to create a pleasantsensation, particularlysince the temperature adjacent the floor is usually cooler than that atupper levels.

Because of the fact that the air is introduced through screen 42 whichis at a relatively high level, the air introduced is relatively clean ascompared with air taken in adjacent a floor. Furthermore, the chances ofthere being any obstruction at this level in front of the cabinet arevery slight. Thus, by providing the air intake in the front of thecabinet, well above the floor, it is assumed that the air drawn in forcooling the condenser will normally be clean and relativelyunobstructed. Furthermore, by discharging the air adjacent the floor andthe front of the cabinet, any tendency of dust to collect at this pointis minimized since it is blown away as it tends to collect. In addition,a portion of the heated air is also utilized for guarding againstfreezing of the condensate drain tube.

It will be seen that l have provided a refrigerated display cabinet inwhich provision is made for always bringing in clean air to cool thecondenser and in which the heated air is-discharged at the front of thecabinet adjacent the floor to keep this area clean and to discharge itat a point where the heat of the air tends to have a pleasant effectrather than an unpleasant effect upon people close to the cabinet. WhileI have shown .a specific embodiment of the cabinet for purposes ofillustration only, it is to be understood that the invention is to belimited solely by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A refrigerated display cabinet having an upper re- "frigerateddisplay chamber and a lower nonrefrigerated chamber; a refrigeratingsystem enclosing a condenser and an evaporator; said condenser beinglocated in said lower chamber and said evaporator in heat exchangerelationship with said upper refrigerated chamber; said cabinet havingan air inlet in front thereof substantially above the bottom of saidcabinet, an air duct beneath said condenser adjacent the bottom of saidcabinet and having a rear opening adjacent the bottom and rear of thespace in which said condenser is located, and an outlet in front of thecabinet adjacent the bottom thereof and communicating with the front ofsaid air duct; and air circulating means in said cabinet for drawing airthrough said air inlet, through a portion of said lower cabinet, oversaid condenser for cooling the same, and out through said air duct andsaid air outlet, so that the air for cooling the condenser is drawn inthrough the front of the cabinet at an area substantially above thefloor and is forced outwardly through the front of the cabinet adjacentthe floor.

2. The display cabinet of claim 1 in which the lower portion of thefront of the cabinet has two spaced walls, the outer of which terminatesat its upper edge at a level substantially above the top of the lowerchamber, in which an imperforate panel extends across and above thespace between the walls, in which said air inlet extends substantiallyvertically below said panel adjacent the upper edge of the outer of saidspaced walls, and in which the space between said walls forms an airpassage leading to said lower chamber and through which the air forcooling the condenser is drawn after entering said inlet.

3. The display cabinet of claim 2 in which the inner of said spacedwalls is an insulated wall and extends downwardly to the bottom of saidupper refrigerated chamber and the outer of which is a decorative wallwhich extends downwardly to substantially the bottom of said cabinet. I

4. The display cabinet of claim 3 in which a transparent wall isdisposed above said insulated wall and forms part of the enclosure ofsaid upper refrigerated chamber, said panel extending forwardly from thebottom of said transparent wall across and above said space between saidwalls, and in which there is a substantially vertical grill between theforward portion of said panel and the upper edge of said outer wall andcovering said air inlet.

5. The display cabinet of claim 1 in which there is a recessed portionadjacent the bottom of the cabinet to provide a toe space", whichrecessed portion extends substantially the entire length of the cabinetand in which said air outlet opens into said toe space so that thedischarge air is discharged into the toe space.

6. The display cabinet of claim 1 in which there is a drain passageextending from below said evaporator to conduct condensate from saidevaporator to a point of collection for said condensate and means forconveying a portion of the air passing over said condenser in heattransfer relation with said drain passage so as to minimize the dangerof freezing in said drain passage.

7. The display cabinet of claim 1 in which there is a base member spacedabove the bottom of the cabinet and supporting the condenser and inwhich the air duct is bounded by said base member and the bottom of thecabinet.

8. The display cabinet of claim 7 in which the refrigerating systemincludes a compressor and in which there is a further base member spacedabove the bottom of the cabinet to the rear of said previously namedbase member and spaced therefrom, said further base member acting tosupport said compressor and to form an upper wall of a rear extension ofsaid air duct so that some of the air passing over said condenser passesbetween said base members forwardly through said duct and other of theair passing over the condenser also passes over the compressor and isforced forwardly through said rear extension of said air duct.

1. A refrigerated display cabinet having an upper refrigerated displaychamber and a lower nonrefrigerated chamber; a refrigerating systemenclosing a condenser and an evaporator; said condenser being located insaid lower chamber and said evaporator in heat exchange relationshipwith said upper refrigerated chamber; said cabinet having an air inletin front thereof substantially above the bottom of said cabinet, an airduct beneath said condenser adjacent the bottom of said cabinet andhaving a rear opening adjacent the bottom and rear of the space in whichsaid condenser is located, and an outlet in front of the cabinetadjacent the bottom thereof and communicating with the front of said airduct; and air circulating means in said cabinet for drawing air throughsaid air inlet, through a portion of said lower cabinet, over saidcondenser for cooling the same, and out through said air duct and saidair outlet, so that the air for cooling the condenser is drawn inthrough the front of the cabinet at an area substantially above thefloor and is forced outwardly through the front of the cabinet adjacentthe floor.
 2. The display cabineT of claim 1 in which the lower portionof the front of the cabinet has two spaced walls, the outer of whichterminates at its upper edge at a level substantially above the top ofthe lower chamber, in which an imperforate panel extends across andabove the space between the walls, in which said air inlet extendssubstantially vertically below said panel adjacent the upper edge of theouter of said spaced walls, and in which the space between said wallsforms an air passage leading to said lower chamber and through which theair for cooling the condenser is drawn after entering said inlet.
 3. Thedisplay cabinet of claim 2 in which the inner of said spaced walls is aninsulated wall and extends downwardly to the bottom of said upperrefrigerated chamber and the outer of which is a decorative wall whichextends downwardly to substantially the bottom of said cabinet.
 4. Thedisplay cabinet of claim 3 in which a transparent wall is disposed abovesaid insulated wall and forms part of the enclosure of said upperrefrigerated chamber, said panel extending forwardly from the bottom ofsaid transparent wall across and above said space between said walls,and in which there is a substantially vertical grill between the forwardportion of said panel and the upper edge of said outer wall and coveringsaid air inlet.
 5. The display cabinet of claim 1 in which there is arecessed portion adjacent the bottom of the cabinet to provide a ''''toespace'''', which recessed portion extends substantially the entirelength of the cabinet and in which said air outlet opens into said toespace so that the discharge air is discharged into the toe space.
 6. Thedisplay cabinet of claim 1 in which there is a drain passage extendingfrom below said evaporator to conduct condensate from said evaporator toa point of collection for said condensate and means for conveying aportion of the air passing over said condenser in heat transfer relationwith said drain passage so as to minimize the danger of freezing in saiddrain passage.
 7. The display cabinet of claim 1 in which there is abase member spaced above the bottom of the cabinet and supporting thecondenser and in which the air duct is bounded by said base member andthe bottom of the cabinet.
 8. The display cabinet of claim 7 in whichthe refrigerating system includes a compressor and in which there is afurther base member spaced above the bottom of the cabinet to the rearof said previously named base member and spaced therefrom, said furtherbase member acting to support said compressor and to form an upper wallof a rear extension of said air duct so that some of the air passingover said condenser passes between said base members forwardly throughsaid duct and other of the air passing over the condenser also passesover the compressor and is forced forwardly through said rear extensionof said air duct.